I moved into this old/disabled housing place last month. A few times ive been able to hear small fast feet running back and forth across my ceiling usually after the sun goes down. Since its getting colder ive been hearing it more often. Kinda like a "pitterpatterswish" noise. Its very soft but noticeable.
Well and hour an ahalf ago at 3:30-ish am. I was awakened from a peaceful sleep by something. That something made itself startlingly known a few seconds later when I hear what sounds like two smooth pieces of wood rubbing together producing a loud woody squeaking. Accompanied by gnawing noises.....directly over my bed in the ceiling. This was ear piercing. First time ive heard it too and scared me to the point I cant get back to sleep scared to turn off the lights. I whapped the ceiling with the flat of ky hand and off it whent! Pitter patter swish swish, round and round my ceiling it ran so I whapped the ceiling again and it just kept going in circles thenni heard it run to the outside wall and something land on the power sheds roof that's butted against the outside of the house next to one of my windows...

What the hell is it and why is it trying to chew a hole in the ceiling to get me?

I don't know where you live, but a creature you can both hear and will across a ceiling sounds like a large bug of some kind. Centipedes move ridiculously fast, but I don't know why they'd be eating the ceiling^*. If it wasn't actually running probably a bat or something. Or I guess if it's in the ceiling then mice/rat/vole would make the most sense to me

Can you describe what you saw? (long, black, really fast, skittish, kind of blindly running, etc.)

^* Disclaimer: I'm a pretty crappy pretend entomologist.

Ceiling as in up in the attic. And it was feet, no bug ive ever seen could make that noise. Also the wood noise was something "chewing" on one of the 2x4s up there....I hope.

I live in Connecticut, found a very large rodent dropping once...but only once and none of my traps "in" the house have even been touched.

I would go check the attic ....but well bad position to be in. I mean the first part of you to enter the attic is your head, *pictures something pouncing on face...* @^@

Esme_Belles said:
Ceiling as in up in the attic. And it was feet, no bug ive ever seen could make that noise. Also the wood noise was something "chewing" on one of the 2x4s up there....I hope.

I live in Connecticut, found a very large rodent dropping once...but only once and none of my traps "in" the house have even been touched.

I would go check the attic ....but well bad position to be in. I mean the first part of you to enter the attic is your head, *pictures something pouncing on face...* @^@

Hmm. The chewing could have been looking for bugs possibly. Seeing as you already saw some droppings I'm leaning more towards rodents. Squirrels are more active during the day and rats/mice you will rarely hear/see outside of the night. Both are fairly harmless and mostly just a nuisance. Either way peanut butter works really well for baiting them.

I don't know how sealed the place is, but in the last few places I lied that I've had mice problems I just used cotton balls coated in cayenne pepper and shoved them in the cracks wherever I thought they might be getting in. Since they tend to use stuff like that for nesting materials it makes a great non-lethal deterrent.

Good luck with sleeping tonight ;)

Yep sounds like a rodent, good luck getting it out. They can be pesky.

Family has used some .22 LR rat-shot cartridges on some pests in the past up in Romeo, Michigan (where it's not a big deal to fire a shot here or there, neighbors more often than not super cool) and it did the job super well. Pellets too small and powder grain too little to cause any real damage on wood, stone, etc. should you be dealing with one indoors and fail to land a clean shot. But, however, since you said you were in a "housing place" which more than likely isn't rural, that's out of the question, let alone if you have a .22 long rifle to begin with! Have you ever gone up into your attic? If not, it's probably worth going up there and baiting. I bet it's a rodent trying to find shelter for winter.

I'd guess it's a raccoon.

This is pretty common rat behavior. Depending on your disposition, you can either try to trap them, or buy some poison, or call an exterminator.
Source: Aunt and Uncle have problems with them all the time.

Yes, housing but in the middle of forest land on the edge of a swampland. So its like a really spread out rural area. I have 2 neighbors to the left of me that are part of the same building. A triplex. Then another three to the left an right about a couple yards.

And yeah its either a raccoon or a very crazy rat. Me and the nighbor feed the birdie's so there's a several feeders and 3 fat feeders out back away from the house. But like mentioned we have only found one dropping (when I first moved in) and my traps, baited with real peanutbutter, have been untouched.
Mice and rats leave a trail wherever they go, every 3 or so inches they drop a pellet.

Esme_Belles said: Mice and rats leave a trail wherever they go, every 3 or so inches they drop a pellet.

If it is a raccoon, the best thing to solve your problem would be an exterminator.
If that's too costly - a hungry dog, a baseball bat or poisoned cookies will do just as good.

I actually have the same problem for where I live. It is actually bats living between the two floors and every time they come in from the outside walls, they crawl and scratch around and it drives me crazy. Look for the closest outside wall from where you hear the noise and maybe you could see a hole somewhere, that's how I figured out bats were living in the walls

Neitsuke said:
I actually have the same problem for where I live. It is actually bats living between the two floors and every time they come in from the outside walls, they crawl and scratch around and it drives me crazy. Look for the closest outside wall from where you hear the noise and maybe you could see a hole somewhere, that's how I figured out bats were living in the walls

that was my thought at first too and i was content to leave 'em be, i dont like killing animals seeking shelter, even mice, i was going to originally use non-kill traps in the house and then go through the chore of releasing them miles away. my caretaker got kill traps however...sorta happy that either the mice are smart enough to not try to eat the bait or are not actually in the house, i'd be in tears if i heard one go off...
untill last night even my caretaker who spent a night an heard it too thought it was a bat or a bird. but something litterly jumped onto the utility shed's roof to exit the attic last night (sadly i was here alone). thats a land based animal. plus bats dont chew on 2x4's. (the wooden support beams)

Peekaboo said:
If it is a raccoon, the best thing to solve your problem would be an exterminator.
If that's too costly - a hungry dog, a baseball bat or poisoned cookies will do just as good.

the issue with coon's are they are NOISY as fuck, they destroy the attic and you can hear them doing it. plus they sound heavier if what ive read is correct. plus ive never heard them fighting over the fat feeders like they do at my granmothers, could wake elvis pressly with that racket.

no sounded more like a small to small/medium sized animal with a long drooping tail, rat, mouse, maybe a squirrle, possem.
Picture little feet scampering constantly while something is being dragged lightly.
i have better hearing than most...

Rats and mice are simple to identify from the droppings. If there's none, then it's almost always something else.

I'd bet it's a flying squirrel. Those are nocturnal and like to chew on things.

Probably a rat or the local raccoon paying ceiling rent

Nuke the entire site from orbit.

Durandal said:
Nuke the entire site from orbit.

It's the only way to be sure.

Odds are it's a rodent of some sort, be it rat, mouse, or squirrel. Like all rodents, gnawing is what they do because it helps keep their teeth worn down. Since there's no trail of pellets and you heard the critter go outside, my guess is a squirrel looking for a place to nest for the winter.

Now that you know where to look, you ought to patch up the hole it used to get in, both to keep it and other critters out and to help keep your energy costs down by closing up a heat leak. If you can't just yet, spray the area with a mixture of white vinegar and cayenne pepper powder as a repellent.

You also need not worry much about being jumped if you stick your head into the attic. It won't attack you if it can avoid you. After all, your head is bigger than its entire body! It is not going to mess with a giant animal if at all possible. If you're still worried, though, use the vinegar/cayenne spray on the trapdoor opening first.

It's ceiling cat.

Durandal said:
Nuke the entire site from orbit.

DragonFox69 said:
It's the only way to be sure.

Hold on a second. That installation has a substantial dollar value attached to it.